Chuck vs The White Picket Fence Future
by ellenscult
Summary: Chuck has everything he wants. So why is he confused? Contains S3 spoilers & m/m sex. Chuck/Casey, Chuck/Sarah. Now contains all the White Picket Fence Future stories. My attempt at working through my issues with S3.
1. Casey vs The White Picket Fence Future

**Editing note:** _Since this White Picket Fence Future story turned out to be a series as I work through the issues Season 3's left me with, I'm pulling all of the stories together under the Chuck vs The White Picket Fence Future title and making it a chaptered fic instead of a bunch of short fics. The order runs 'Casey vs The White Picket Fence Future', 'Chuck vs The White Picket Fence Future', 'Sarah vs The White Picket Fence Future' and 'Morgan vs The White Picket Fence Future'. These stories haven't changed apart from a couple of typos being corrected. I have 3 more fics to add to this series: 'Devon vs The White Picket Fence Future', 'Ellie vs The White Picket Fence Future' and 'The White Picket Fence Future'. I hope you like them, and sorry for the delay._

**Casey vs The White Picket Fence Future Note:** _So I've watched all of S3 and... it's left me with some issues. A whole bunch of issues. *sigh* I've still got a lot to work through before I can get back to my preferred Chuck/Casey schmoop, but hey, this is a start. This story is Chuck/Casey and Chuck/Sarah and mentions m/m sex, which means a homosexual relationship. If you don't like that kind of thing, if you're underage, if it's illegal where you are, don't read this story. Life's too short to get upset by things you read on the internet, okay? _

**Disclaimer:**_ Not my sandbox, I'm just playing in it. Thanks to all involved in making Chuck such a fantastic show._

* * *

Every year there's an evening when, missions permitting, John Casey holes up and gets drunk. It used to be on the anniversary of Ilsa Trinchina's death, but when she turned up alive, that pretty much put paid to that. No, since then, it's been the anniversary of him giving up Chuck.

Charles Irving Bartowski, nerd and spy, who'd spent six years getting over his first love, who'd fallen for Sarah the first time she walked into the Buy More with a broken cell phone. He still wears his heart on his sleeve, carries his feelings there, in his eyes for anyone to see.

And that's why, when Sarah kept leading him on only to knock him back, when the job, the reminders that she was a killer too, got to be too much, he turned to Casey.

Casey's straight, single, a military man. But he's been through seduction school and he knows that sometimes, some nights gender doesn't matter. Some nights it's all about a warm body lying beside you in the darkness, it's about shared breath, it's about the arms around you. So he holds Chuck together, gets his mind off the lies and the secrets and somewhere along the way, he forgets this isn't about him, this isn't about _them._

But then Sarah gets her act together and Chuck gets conflicted and in the end, Casey makes it easy for him. He puts some of Uncle Sam's special training to good use and in the morning, when Chuck wakes up, he's in his own bed, well-rested and in love with Sarah. It's not that he doesn't remember what he did with Casey, it's just that those memories aren't important any more. There's no need to think about them, no need to dwell on all those nights spent sweat-slick and hard, straining against each other, making that most primitive of connections.

Casey had the chance for a white picket fence life, for a wife and a family, and he chose to step into the shadows instead. Chose to make what difference he could in special ops, black ops, as an assassin and a spy. In the end, it turns out he has a family anyway, a daughter who might just want to get to know him.

And Chuck, Chuck has a chance at a normal life. Well, as normal as a life can be when working for the CIA, when the woman he loves works for the CIA, when he has a computer in his brain and has finally learned why not to kill.

He has a chance at that white picket fence future. Casey figures it's something he deserves. He's normal America, he's what Casey's been fighting for all his life and even if sometimes he dreams about long legs tangling with his, he's Colonel John Casey, military man and spy, and picket fences take too much damn painting, at least until he's most of the way down a bottle of whiskey and he's drunk enough that Neil Diamond sounds good. Then, acknowledging the irony, he raises his glass in a toast to young love and the Fourth of July and white picket fences.


	2. Chuck vs The White Picket Fence Future

**Chuck vs The White Picket Fence Future Note:** _You know, I'm starting to think the back of my head's going somewhere with this white picket fence future thing...__ This story is Chuck/Casey and Chuck/Sarah and mentions m/m sex, which means a homosexual relationship. If you don't like that kind of thing, if you're underage, if it's illegal where you are, don't read this story. Life's too short to get upset by things you read on the internet, okay? _

_

* * *

_Chuck doesn't get it. One minute he and Sarah are struggling to maintain any kind of cover at all - lovers, friends, covert colleagues - and the next, it seems they're on the path to settling down and if not exactly popping out their two-point-whatever spy babies, they have an actual honest-to-goodness relationship, with sex and everything.

He's pretty sure it has something to do with him getting formal spy training, with Prague, with the Intersect 2.0. He's pretty sure it doesn't have anything to do with Colonel John Casey, apart from, you know, all the times Casey's saved him from certain death, or at least some torture.

But things with Sarah don't go smoothly - when have they ever? - and Chuck has other things to deal with, like Shaw and the Ring and his father's legacy. A glimpse into how an (in)famous CIA spy couple have managed to work together and stay married (well, remarried) only confuses Chuck further.

There are times when he half-wakes in the small hours of the morning from dreams of making love, of being taken rather than doing the taking, of a hard strength and a body larger than his own, so very different from Sarah's smaller, sweeter curves, times when he surfaces only far enough to think _things should be different, things shouldn't be this way_. But then Sarah shifts, nestling closer to him and he can smell the subtle scent of her shampoo and the sun-warmed smell that's all her, and when he wakes in the morning, those dreams, those half-thoughts are forgotten.

His days are busy: missions and Sarah and his father's legacy. Ellie and Awesome, Morgan, the sudden lack of a day job. He's aware in the same way he's aware things used to be different, things maybe should still be different, that Casey and Morgan seem to have bonded. He knows they went through some things when he was busy learning how to be a spy, learning how not to go crazy from the Intersect, from the secrets and lies, from shooting Shaw, and if he feels a pang of jealousy, it's because hey, that's his best friend!

And yes, it's great he doesn't have to lie to Morgan any more. It's amazing! He has his best friend back in his life, in all of his life, only the Morgan who comes along on missions isn't the same Morgan who tried to help him escape from his birthday party three years ago.

Chuck knows it's his turn to feel a little excluded. He's proud, incredibly proud of the man his friend has become. But he can't quite help feeling a pang of jealousy when Casey slaps Morgan on the shoulder and doesn't follow it up with a growl and pushing him into a wall.

Still, he's a spy now, a proper, qualified, fully trained spy. Probably. He's pretty sure. And he has the girlfriend of his dreams. And if, sometimes, his dreams are a little confused, it's okay; it's been a busy few years, a lot of changes; he's allowed.


	3. Sarah vs The White Picket Fence Future

**Sarah vs The White Picket Fence Future Note:** _I think Morgan might be next up... If the back of my head can turn S3 into a Chuck/Casey happy ending, I'm going to be really impressed! Well, that and slightly disturbed... LOL__ This story is Chuck/Casey and Chuck/Sarah and Sarah/Carina and mentions m/m and f/f sex, which means a homosexual relationship. If you don't like that kind of thing, if you're underage, if it's illegal where you are, don't read this story. Life's too short to get upset by things you read on the internet, okay? _

* * *

Sarah loves Chuck. That's one thing she's certain of. Somehow this young man's innocence and vulnerability, his creativity and resourcefulness, and most of all his bravery, have found all the cracks in her armor, have wormed their way into her heart and soul and no matter how hard she tries, she can't help but love Chuck with a heart she'd long thought buried.

But there's her job to think of; she doesn't want to be reassigned because she's 'compromised' and she doesn't want to leave Chuck unprotected, never mind that Casey's there, that he's in it for the long haul and there's no one better to protect their boy.

Part of her wants so very much to have a future with Chuck, to have love and companionship, to have someone who knows her, who knows her name, and who won't use anything - the job, the things she's done, the things her father's done - against her. That's the part that wants to throw a lifetime of caution to the wind and let love be enough.

But a lifetime of training to be someone else, a hundred someone elses, has left her wary. She knows what this life has done to her, what the job has done to her. She knows what she's capable of, and from the start she hasn't wanted that for Chuck. She doesn't want him to become someone who can't recognize himself when he looks in the mirror. She knows what this life leads to and she doesn't want him to become a killer. She doesn't want him to become a killer like her.

Sarah doesn't mean to hurt Chuck, but she does what she has to in order to keep him safe, keep him alive, even if at times he comes close to hating her for it. And when he downloads the Intersect 2.0 and saves both her and Casey, when he ends up training to be a spy, she doesn't know how to adjust to a world in which he doesn't need her to keep him alive.

Chuck is distant at times, then he talks about love and forever. Sarah isn't a spy for nothing: she knows he's spent nights with Casey, despite both men's orientation. She doesn't begrudge either man: she's spent nights with Carina that neither woman will admit to in the harsh light of day. But in the end, Sarah has to decide if she can give Chuck what she knows he needs. She needs to know if she can give him all of herself, forever.

Sarah's had a lifetime of training in how not to trust anyone, in how to distance herself from the demands of her heart. She's pretty sure that she can love Chuck, can be _in love_ with him, that she can learn to live with him and spend her life with him. Now all she needs to know is if he can spend a lifetime with her.


	4. Morgan vs The White Picket Fence Future

**Morgan vs The White Picket Fence Future Note:** _This is part 4 in what's turned out to be a whole White Picket Fence Series. It's my attempt to fix Chuck S3's fixation on Chuck/Sarah._

_If you don't like m/m relationships, if you're underage, if it's illegal where you are, if you're a die-hard Chuck/Sarah shipper, this story isn't for you. Don't read it; life's too short to get upset by things you read on the internet. _

_None of the characters are mine, I'm just playing. Thanks to the amazing actors and writers who make the show such fun to watch._

_

* * *

_Morgan's been waiting to live with Chuck ever since they hooked up in school. That kind of chemistry is undeniable and irreplaceable, in his opinion. Of course, he's been waiting for Ellie to realise she's madly in love with him for almost as long, but he can concede that's probably not going to happen. Maybe when they're both old and grey and wrinkly, when Devon's untimely demise has proved that much exercise really isn't good for you, maybe then they can come together in their twilight years and-

Well, maybe. But that doesn't matter nearly as much as the fact that he lives with Chuck now! Who's a spy! A real James Bond, Mission Impossible, save the world, all-American hero! And Morgan gets to be on his team! Morgan gets to help save the day! Morgan gets to-

Morgan gets to wander into Chuck's room at three in the morning and collapse on the bed beside Chuck, with a groan for the lateness of the hour and the need to get up early for the day job, and another groan for the nightmare Chuck's currently thrashing his way through.

'Hey, buddy? Chuck? C'mon, snap out of it,' he mumbles, managing to steal some of the pillow. 'It's okay, you're safe, you're home.' Clumsily, he pats Chuck's shoulder and Chuck sighs, stilling. Then Chuck's reaching out, pulling him close, slinging a leg over Morgan's hips. He whimpers once, frowning in the low light that filters in from the courtyard, fingers tightening on Morgan's arm.

'Casey?'

'No, it's me, Morgan,' Morgan says, suddenly more alert. 'John's not here, buddy.'

With a sound that's suspiciously close to a sob, Chuck buries his face in the curve of Morgan's shoulder. 'Can't find John. Got to find him.'

'Hey, hey, I'm here, it's okay. John's okay, he's fine. He's probably fast asleep in his bed right now,' Morgan says reassuringly, petting Chuck's unruly curls.

Chuck sighs and calms down, but doesn't let Morgan go. After a few minutes, Chuck snuffles, and it's so cute, so _five_, that Morgan wishes he had a camcorder, but then Chuck mumbles, and it's muffled and almost unintelligible, but the loss in his voice is unmistakable. Morgan lies awake for a while, but Chuck doesn't say anything more. And it might be the lateness of the hour and the lack of sleep, but Morgan could swear what Chuck said was _I miss him_, and that's just crazy.

In the light of day, after Chuck ribs him gently about climbing into his bed like they're still nine and spent the evening watching horror movies, Morgan pushes the whole thing to the back of his mind. After all, there's breakfast to think about, and work, and missions, and _Call of Duty_ and Sarah breezes in and out again with an enigmatic smile and a hint of perfume. But night rolls around and Morgan hears Chuck, still searching, still failing to find John Casey.

Morgan's used to letting things go, used to letting them wash over his head, but he's not stupid, and now he knows there's so much more to his best friend than he ever thought, some part of him is aware there's more again, there has to be more, that Chuck hasn't told him about, hasn't shown him. So he does what he's spent most of his life doing: he watches Chuck and gathers evidence.

He watches Chuck when Casey's around, watches him with Sarah. He sees the way Casey watches Chuck, the way Casey watches Chuck with Sarah. He listens to Chuck's dreams night after night and he listens to Chuck talk about his dreams for life with Sarah during the day. And in the end, he can't make them add up.

Chuck's conscious mind, his daytime hopes and dreams definitely do not equal his subconscious mind, his nighttime dreams in which all hope is long gone.

By day, Chuck's a mild-mannered Nerd Herder and spy, in love with his beautiful fellow-spy, Sarah. By night, Chuck's still a mild-mannered Nerd Herder and spy, but he's also lost, heartbroken. If he's in love, it isn't with Sarah, it's with John.

Uncharacteristically, Morgan doesn't know what to do about it, doesn't know how to help Chuck, or even if he should. He doesn't know why Chuck's in love with one person when he's awake and another when he's asleep. How is that even possible?

And then Chuck's dad dies and the world ends, or at least the Buy More explodes, and suddenly everything's different. Suddenly everything falls into place.

Morgan sees photos of Lester and Jeff on the TV, wanted for questioning by the police, and something clicks. Lester's behavior, how he tried his best to break Morgan, but in the end was the one who broke. How he gave up his rebellion, gave up Jeff, so he could follow Morgan around like a puppy, wanting to please, wanting to be stroked. And while Morgan doesn't know exactly how John did it, he knows what John did, knows he did that to Chuck.

It's after midnight when Morgan sits in Castle and waits for Casey to arrive. His heart's beating double-time; he knows there's no way he could get away from the older man if he chose to snap his neck and hide the body. He knows no one would ever find him. But this is _Chuck_, his best friend forever, his buddy, his bro, and he knows that if anyone ever pulled one of those Jedi mind tricks on him, Chuck would be first in line to fix it.

So when Casey arrives, he nods coolly. 'Colonel.'

'Grimes.' Casey studies him with a mix of disdain and curiosity. 'A little late for you, isn't it?'

Morgan ignores the comment. 'There's something I thought you should know about,' he says. 'Something I thought you should hear. Because I've heard it almost every night for the past few months.' He stretches out a hand, casually taps a key, and the feed from Chuck's bedroom pops up on the screens.

Chuck's restless, reaching out, wriggling across the bed.

'So?' Casey shrugs, his expression one of bored irritation, but Morgan can sense his discomfort.

'Listen,' he says, and turns up the sound.

Chuck moans and whimpers, tiny sounds that fill Castle's silence with so much pain that by the time he cries _John!_, Casey snarls, striding forward to cut the feed with a stab.

Morgan watches the tall man, gauges how close he is to breaking. He stands, pulls on his jacket, puts a hand on Casey's arm hoping he won't end up with broken fingers. 'Every night,' he says softly. 'Fix it.'

He leaves Casey standing there in the middle of their secret spy base and goes home to sit beside his best friend and tell him it'll be okay, it'll all be okay, so maybe for a few hours, Chuck will stop searching for the man who mind-whammied him, the man he loves.

Living with Chuck hasn't turned out to be much like Morgan imagined it would be back when they were kids just trying to make it through high school. It isn't an endless round of watching movies and playing computer games. But in the end, Morgan knows nobody else could guard Chuck's heart while he sleeps. If living with Chuck means broken sleep for a hundred years, it's worth it.


	5. Devon vs The White Picket Fence Future

**Note:** _I got a bit stuck on this one, but I took a hammer to it and it's done, as is the next one, and some of the last one too. Hurrah! Sorry for the wait!

* * *

_Devon's been in love with the Bartowskis since he first met Ellie. Her beauty and brilliance are a heady combination he wants to spend the rest of his life exploring. Sure, she can be a little nervy, high-strung, but she's like a racehorse: worth any expense, any trouble, because she's amazing, a miracle, a wonder of nature. Devon would gladly die for her, but he's hoping to live, and to a very ripe old age. It's why he takes such good care of himself. He's a doctor too, he knows men don't live as long as women, and he doesn't ever want to leave Ellie alone. She's worth everything to him.

If he thought about it, he'd find it more than a little odd that he loves Chuck almost as much. Of course, it isn't the same kind of love: Chuck's the little bro who really needs support and guidance, the bro who hasn't had the advantage of the Woodcombes', Senior. He's dealt with enough of Ellie's issues to know their abandonment by first their mother, then their crazy father has left the Bartowski siblings with some very deep scars.

Chuck's easily as brilliant as his older sister, even though it's for computers, not medicine. He's as highly-strung, although he does his best to hide it under a veneer of not caring. It hurts, actually physically hurt, to see him wasting years of his life at the Buy More, to see him retreating into a lacklustre world of late-night computer gaming marathons and the juvenile comfort of Morgan Grimes when he should be changing the world with that incredible mind.

It'd be different if Chuck wanted to be where he is, but he so clearly doesn't. He's been hurt, his plans and ambitions set back. But there's so much more he could be doing and Devon can't shake the feeling that the world is a poorer place for him not doing any of it.

Then Devon finds out that John's a stalker - no, a spy - and that Chuck's a spy too. A competent spy. A spy who faces death and comes out alive. And Sarah, she's a spy too, and she and John are there to look out for Chuck in ways Devon never dreamed he'd need. In some ways, it's a relief: all three are clearly massively overqualified for careers in retail.

He still hasn't worked out how he feels about Chuck having gotten so good at lying.

Chuck's changed again, though, over the past few months. He's gone through the indefinable change that makes a boy a man; moving through a world of intrigue that leaves Devon feeling out of his depth, feeling as though he's the child. And Devon's seen first-hand how serious things have gotten, how close they've all come to dying or to being locked up indefinitely without trial, so he figures Chuck's entitled to be less than happy, especially after his father's killed.

But even so, Devon knows there's something wrong over and above all of this. It's as though a light's gone out in Chuck's soul and there's nothing in any of Devon's medical knowledge that can help.

Once things have calmed down a little, Devon takes the time to think about the three spies. Chuck cares deeply for Sarah; she's beautiful, graceful, intelligent and deadly. Sarah's like a mother tiger defending her cub when it comes to threats against Chuck. But that's not quite the vibe Devon wants to associate with a soul mate, a life partner. Much as he hates to admit it, Morgan's closer to that label than Sarah.

John, though... John's different. John's dark and intense and so very dangerous. He's so very alone. Devon's met John's daughter, is beginning, now he's married to Ellie, to understand what it is that John gave up, the depth of his commitment to his country. That commitment extends to Chuck, Devon knows, but it's different, it's something more.

Devon tells himself he never believed that drunken flasher story and tells Ellie he's going to see if John fancies dinner and a beer one evening when she's working late. On learning it's Ellie's cooking, even though Ellie won't be there, John accepts the invitation. It takes a while, and Devon regrets he prizes blunt honesty over subtlety, but finally he decides to go with his strengths. As they pile the dishes in the sink, he asks, 'What did you do to Chuck?'

Casey freezes for a split second, then relaxes in a way that's merely a cover for the _I could kill you without breaking a sweat_ readiness that sings through his frame. 'I haven't done anything to Chuck, unless you count doing my damnedest to keep him alive.'

'So why does he look like you broke his heart?' Devon hears himself saying. It's such a emgirly/em thing to say that he's momentarily distracted from his question's implications. 'John, _did_ you break Chuck's heart? Because I've gotta say, that is not cool.'

John scowls ferociously. 'Why does everyone think I broke Chuck's heart? He's in love with Walker. Not me.'

Devon shakes his head. 'So you broke his heart before he could break yours? Wow, that's low. John, you're practically family. You have to fix this, because I'm not watching my little bro grieve for another six years, not when you're right here. Man up, John. Apologize. Grovel if you have to. But there's no point in protecting his body if you've already killed him inside.'

Harsh words, he knows, and he's going to have a freakout when Ellie gets home about the fact that her little brother is gay, or bi, or at the very least John-sexual, but he's finally recognized that look in Chuck's eyes because he knows it's how he'd feel if Ellie left him. Brokenhearted.

Devon sees the shuttered look on the older man's face and tries again. 'John, if Chuck didn't love you, you could never break his heart. So what if he loves Sarah? He's _in love_ with you.'

'You don't know what you're talking about,' John mutters, but it's as though Devon dumped a barrel of water over his spirit; all the fire's gone out and Devon knows he's right.

He puts a hand on John's shoulder and squeezes. 'I'm here for you, John. Now get out of my house and go find Chuck.'


	6. Ellie vs The White Picket Fence Future

All Ellie wants is for her family to be happy, to be safe, to be _there_. But mom left, dad was crazy and then he left too, and Chuck - well, Chuck's turned out to be a lot more than she ever suspected. But Chuck and Devon are her family and she's damned if she'll let anyone tear them apart.

When Chuck came home from Stamford, his dreams and self-esteem in tatters, Ellie did her best to help him get back on his feet. Morgan was there, with his undying love and support - and yes, she supposes that makes him family too, even if he's sometimes stalker-creepy but in an exasperating puppy dog way - but Chuck didn't really gain back that spark, that love of life until Sarah walked into the Buy More and asked him out.

Only it wasn't like that at all, Ellie thinks, chopping tomatoes for fresh salsa to have with dinner tonight. It couldn't have been like that, could it? Because Sarah only entered Chuck's life because Chuck somehow ended up with government secrets in his head, only pretended to go out with him, to fall in love with him because she needed an excuse to be close to him. Because she needed to protect him, otherwise he'd be dead by now.

Chuck, her baby brother, the man she did more to raise than either of their parents, would be dead or locked away in some top secret government bunker and either way, she'd never, ever see him again.

Ellie sets down her knife and takes a deep breath, pretending that the tears that sting her eyes are solely due to the onions in the pan beside her.

When she can see again, Ellie stirs the onions, slides the tomatoes into a green glass bowl and selects three avocados for her famous guacamole.

Devon spoke to her this morning when she got in from a long shift at the hospital.

'Babe, we have to find a way to help your bro.'

'Chuck? Why, what's wrong?' Her exhaustion is brutally pushed aside by a burst of adrenaline.

'Oh, no, no, nothing like that!' Devon hastens to reassure her, but it's too late, she's back to being wired.

'God, don't scare me like that!' She heads for the bathroom and starts the shower, setting the temperature to hot-hot-hot, knowing her husband is right behind her. 'So why does Chuck need our help this time?' Ellie knows her words sound a little begrudging, but damn it, she's been at the hospital for eighteen hours and now she's going to be awake for at least the next five, and Devon's heading in for his own shift in twenty minutes, so she'll be stuck on her own, fretting if he doesn't just tell her what the heck is going on with her little brother right now-

Devon's arms slide around her and he holds her close, like something infinitely precious, infinitely fragile, infinitely beloved. 'Hey, hey, shh, I didn't mean to upset you,' he murmurs into the curtain of her hair. 'It's just, he's been so sad and it isn't, it's not…'

'It isn't dad,' Ellie sniffs. 'I know.' And she does, though she's avoided thinking about it, avoided looking too closely at her brother in the face of her own grief.

'Yeah.'

'Did he talk to you?' Ellie allows herself the luxury of her husband's comfort for a few seconds more, before pushing gently away and stripping off. She really needs that shower, and if she makes it quick, she can have another hug before he has to go.

'No,' Devon says, sitting on the closed lid of the toilet and watching her with undisguised attraction. 'But I had dinner with John Casey last night and, I don't know, something just clicked, you know?'

'And?' Ellie stands under the pounding spray and lets the water slide through her hair and down her back. After a moment to simply appreciate the heat and the wet, to let her shoulders relax a fraction, she grabs the shampoo and lathers up.

'And he's in love with Chuck.'

There's a clatter as Ellie drops the bottle.

'What? John's _in love_ with Chuck? My Chuck? John-the-drunken-flasher John?' Ellie scrubs herself furiously, needing to be out of the shower so she can see her husband's face, make sure this isn't some bizarre practical joke.

'He didn't say it, but it's pretty clear,' Devon says. 'And Chuck's in love with him too.'

Ellie rinses off as fast as humanly possible and shuts off the shower. She grabs a towel and wraps herself in it, wraps another round her hair. 'But Chuck's in love with Sarah!'

Devon frowns. 'I don't think he is, not really. I mean, he likes her and maybe he even loves her, but babe, I know what being in love feels like, and I don't see it in them.'

'So why is Chuck getting serious about Sarah now? And why isn't he with John, if they're in love?'

'You know, I've been wondering that all night,' Devon says. 'And the only thing I can think of is that John wants Chuck to have a chance at a normal life.'

'What?' Ellie's jaw drops. 'Oh my god! After everything that's happened to Chuck, normal was never going to be on the cards!'

'But we didn't know that until-'

'Until dad died,' Ellie says, bracing herself against the accustomed wave of pain. 'You can say it, you know.'

'I just… Yeah, okay. But why else would John and Chuck hide it, after everything else we've found out? I already thought John was stalking Chuck once,' Devon says, then winces and before Ellie can launch into a round of _What? When? How?_, he adds, 'He was just keeping an eye on him because of, you know, spy stuff.'

'Chuck knows I have no problem with him being gay,' Ellie says, moving into the bedroom to find something clean and comfortable to wear. 'We had that whole talk the summer Morgan and he shared a bed most nights.'

Devon's eyebrows shoot up, then he shrugs. It isn't as though he hasn't caught the little dude asleep in Chuck's bed, but it never occurred to him to wonder if it was anything more than platonic, fraternal. 'Okay.'

'So let's get this straight,' Ellie says, pulling on yoga pants and a t-shirt. 'You think Chuck and John are in love with each other, but, what, John's dumped Chuck so he'll get together with Sarah and they can go off and get married and have little spy babies?'

'The whole white picket fence deal,' Devon agrees. 'I think maybe John's been sacrificing himself for a little too long. Sure, the man's a hero, but there comes a time when you have to have something to hold onto, or there's nothing left to fight for.'

Ellie pauses, wet towel in one hand, hairbrush in the other, and lets her husband's words sink into her, measuring their truth by their weight in her heart. 'When did you get to be so wise?' she asks, coming over to him and placing a gentle kiss on his lips. 'I love you.'

Devon beams. 'Gotta go, babe, or I'll be late. Leave this with you?' He means, is she going to be okay with this new understanding, with knowing her brother has a broken heart, that something needs to be done to fix things with John.

'I'll make dinner for them,' she says, meaning yes, she'll be fine and now she knows she'll make this all right, she'll fix it, she'll put a bandaid on Chuck's heart and get John to kiss it better.

'Awesome!' Devon beams, standing up and bounding out of the room. 'See you tonight.'

'Book a table for us,' Ellie calls after him. 'Somewhere quiet!' They're going to want to be out of the way, no matter how things work out, Ellie knows. Sometimes you just have to give people space.

So she's cooking dinner for two and she made it clear to Chuck that she just wanted to have dinner with her little brother, no Morgan, no Sarah, just the two of them. And she made it clear to John that even if the world's in danger of being blown to kingdom come and he and Chuck are the only people who can possibly prevent it, even that isn't sufficient cause not to come by this evening.

Chuck accepts Ellie's invitation without hesitation, although his voice is dull and he'd clearly just as soon stay home and hide out in his room. John is suspicious of dinner at casa Woodcombe two nights in a row, especially after The Chat with Devon last night, but Ellie tells him that Devon won't be there, that she wants to apologize for his unfounded accusations, and besides after he owned up to it this morning she's going to be cooking enough to feed a small army and he'd be doing a favor by coming round and eating some of it. Really. He sounds just about as locked down as Ellie's ever known and she's hoping that he won't simply turn round and walk out when he realises it's going to be a dinner for two, but with the other sibling instead.

Ellie gets everything ready, then goes and sleeps for a few hours until her alarm clock beeps and it's showtime. She dresses nicely enough to go out to dinner, but casually enough that Chuck and John won't think something's up. She sets the table with her best china and crystal, puts out candles, then the doctor in her takes over from the sister and makes sure that there's lube and condoms in a bag by the couch, which she's covered with a machine-washable throw. She doesn't let herself think about any of it, because really, her brother's sex life is something she never, ever wants to have to consider, but she's hoping more than anything that this will work, that they'll need 'supplies', that Chuck and John will work this out.

Chuck arrives first, makes all the right noises about the delicious smell filling the room, the way she looks, but his heart isn't in it. Ellie lets him help her put dishes out on the table, gets him to pour two large glasses of wine, then sits him down and takes his hands in hers.

'I know about you and John,' she says softly. 'And for what it's worth, you have my blessing, mine and Devon's, both.'

Chuck frowns. 'I'm not entirely sure what you mean,' he says, sounding truly puzzled. 'Your blessing? What for?'

Ellie tries again. 'I know you love him,' she says. 'I know you want to be with him, not Sarah. I mean, I love Sarah like a sister, but if she isn't who you really want to be with, you should let her know. You should let John know.'

'Wait, what?' Chuck blinks, as though the world has suddenly lost its focus. 'You think I- You- I love John?' It ends up coming out as a whisper and Ellie thanks the gods of dramatic timing as John knocks on the door, saving her from having to answer.

She squeezes Chuck's hands, gets up and crosses to the door. 'Just remember, he loves you too,' she says and opens the door.

'Ellie,' John says, handing her a bottle of wine.

Ellie takes it automatically, glancing at the label, though a second later she has no idea what it says. 'Thank you. Come on in, John. Dinner's ready. I'll just put this on the side with the corkscrew, in case you need it later.' She matches her words with action and picks up her purse while she's at it.

When she turns around, she sees John and Chuck staring at each other across the length of the table. 'Sit down,' she chides. 'Eat before it gets cold.' To her surprise, John does sit down, without so much as a passing glare in her direction. As she pauses in the doorway, Ellie says, 'Sometimes you don't have to give it all up. Sometimes you get to have that future with the person you love. Sometimes… sometimes you get to have that white picket fence. It's worth fighting for. Don't give up on each other.'

With that, she closes the door behind her, sends up a swift prayer, and goes off to dinner with her husband, who is definitely worth fighting for.


	7. The White Picket Fence Future

**Note:**_ This is the last in the White Picket Fence Future series and I think I've managed to work through my issues regarding Season 3. I haven't started watching Season 4 yet: goodness knows what that'll throw up! Anyway, this one gets quite explicit, so again with the warning: if you don't like m/m sex, if it's illegal where you are, if you're underage, please don't read this because life really is too short to get upset over things you read on the internet. That said, I hope you like it!  


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Casey finds himself shanghaied into having dinner with Chuck. A romantic dinner, with candles and wine and a little note in Ellie's handwriting tucked under his plate that says 'Supplies are in the bag by the couch. Be safe, have fun!'

Chuck is silent, his usual mile-a-minute mouth working only to chew and swallow Ellie's delicious food. At least, both of them assume it's delicious: for all the attention they're paying, it might as well be from the nearest Taco Bell.

The quiet lasts until they finish the first bottle of wine. As Casey uncorks the bottle he brought, and spots the other two bottles that Ellie's left out for them, Chuck clears his throat. 'Ellie thinks we're in love.'

'Yeah, I got that,' Casey says and refills their glasses.

'Why would she think that?' Chuck looks at John and it's as though he hasn't truly seen him before, but now all his attention is on the colonel, all that intellect, insight, intuition. 'Tell me, John,' and Chuck draws his name out into something approaching a curse. 'Why would my sister think we're in love when I've been going out with Sarah all this time?'

Casey fights down the urge to squirm, ruthlessly squashes memories of Chuck writhing underneath him, of Morgan saying, 'Fix it,' and Devon asking, 'Why does he look like you broke his heart?'; instead, he casually picks up his fork and says, 'She's your sister, you tell me.'

He realises he's made a tactical error when Chuck narrows his eyes, a shark-like grin ghosting across his face. 'Okay, I will. I think Ellie thinks that we're in love because we are.'

'I'm in love with you.' Casey does his best to scoff, but it isn't anywhere near good enough.

'Yes. You are. And I'm pretty sure I'm in love with you too. In fact,' Chuck continues, taking a sip of his wine, 'I'm pretty sure these past few months with Sarah have been down to you.'

'To me,' Casey repeats woodenly.

'To whatever you did to make me forget I was in love with you,' Chuck agrees. 'Although… Not forget, not really, just… skip over it. These aren't the droids you're looking for. This isn't the partner you're looking for.'

Because he's looking so closely, Casey knows Chuck's caught the wince he couldn't quite suppress, so he goes on the attack. 'Why the hell would I be in love with a nerd like you? You're way too young and annoying. Oh, and let's not forget _male_ shall we?'

Chuck's mouth twists, settling after a moment into something resembling a smirk, if a smirk could possibly attempt to hide a soul-deep hurt. 'Why indeed? It's a question that poets and philosophers have spent thousands of years trying to answer, so don't expect me to have the answer. A better question would be why are you trying to pretend you aren't in love with me? I mean, I get the whole being a colonel thing, although DADT's on its way out, thank god, and you're NSA and I'm not even the first guy you've ever slept with on assignment. No, you're in love with me and you managed to use some weird black ops mind control mojo to make me ignore the fact that I'm in love with you and I was going to tell Sarah and Ellie and Morgan so I could be with you.'

Casey does his best to scowl and look forbidding, but it isn't working, because Chuck rattles on.

'It isn't as though I want us to walk front and center in the next Gay Pride march, although Morgan will probably demand to go, just for the costumes. I just wanted a chance to be with the person I love. That's all. How about you, big guy? What did you want?' Chuck regards the spy with a level gaze that says he isn't getting out of the room without giving some answers, not without using a tranq dart, and damn it, Casey left those back at Castle.

Casey looks down at the remains of the meal on his plate. 'I wanted you to have what I couldn't,' he admits, feeling relief sing through him at the same time as a part of his brain is screaming at him to shut up, get the hell out of there, no weaknesses, no vulnerabilities, no exposure. 'I wanted you to have the whole wife and kids thing. You and Sarah…'

'Work better as friends,' Chuck says softly, covering Casey's hand with his own. 'You could have asked me what I want. I'd rather be a good uncle to Ellie and Devon's kids than a lousy dad to my own.'

'You'd be a great-' Casey starts, but Chuck's shaking his head.

'No, don't. I wouldn't. Not as long as I have the Intersect in my head. Not as long as I'm working for the government as a spy. Spies make terrible parents.'

Casey sighs. 'Yeah.'

'Hey, you didn't even know you were a parent,' Chuck chides. 'You don't get to beat yourself up over having a daughter you never knew about. And you don't get to decide what's best for me, not like that.' He pushes away his plate and stands up. 'So since you suck at making personal decisions, I'm making one. Take me to bed and make it up to me.'

'What?' Casey stares at Chuck in shock.

'You heard me. I have months of not sleeping well that you are directly responsible for. So you owe it to me to make it up to me by showing me just how much you've missed me and incidentally tire me out so that I can have the first decent night's sleep in god knows how long.' Chuck rattles that off at high speed and at the end, he's still standing there, hand outstretched.

'What about Walker?' Casey asks.

'I'll talk with Sarah in the morning. John…'

'You aren't mad at me?' Casey asks, taking Chuck's hand and standing up.

'I think I'm probably madder at you than I've ever been at anyone in my entire life, but that can wait. This can't.' Chuck looks Casey in the eye and very deliberately takes a step forwards.

Casey's breath catches in his throat and the hand Chuck's holding twitches as though his very muscles are rebelling, as though now they've made contact with Chuck, they aren't about to let go. Ever. To his chagrin, Casey finds the room blurring around him and his eyes sting with what he will never admit are unshed tears.

'Chuck…' Casey's voice breaks, but his feet carry him the single step it takes to close the gap between them. As gently as breathing, he brushes a dry kiss across Chuck's lips, then his eyes close of their own accord, his free hand buries itself in Chuck's thick curls and he's devouring that lush mouth as though he's starving, as though he hasn't a belly full of Ellie's amazing cooking. And then Chuck's kissing him back.

Casey's brain shuts down while his mouth, his hands, his chest, his thighs, everywhere he's touching Chuck, everywhere Chuck's touching him, is doing a dance of triumph, a _hell yeah!_ and it feels like coming home. He doesn't realize they've stumbled over to the couch until his knees hit the arm and he sits down, pulling Chuck with him.

Chuck breaks the kiss, groaning against the older man's neck. 'I love you, but I'm not having sex with you on my sister's couch,' he complains. 'Your place or mine, but not here.'

Casey clears his throat. 'You're going to have to back off, then,' he rasps. Chuck looks at him, uncomprehending. 'Unless you want me to throw you over my shoulder?'

Chuck blinks, then smiles the first genuine smile Casey's seen out of him in months. 'Maybe some other time,' he says, backing off so that Casey can stand up, grabbing the bag as he goes.

'What's that?'

'Something your sister left for us,' Casey grins. 'It'd be rude not to take it.'

'Wha- Oh!' Chuck flushes. 'I suppose it would be.' He grins again. 'You think Ellie will mind if we leave the washing up?'

Casey growls. 'I'll send her flowers. Tomorrow. Come on.'

Together they leave casa Woodcombe and make a dash for Casey's place. Inside, they head straight upstairs. Even though they've done this dance more times than Casey can count, it feels like tonight's the very first night they've ever stripped in a hurry, too eager to lay hands on bare skin to bother with the tease of undressing each other. It's the first time they've fallen together on Casey's wide bed, arms locked around each other, long legs tangled, mouths sliding slick across each other. It's the first time Casey's rolled Chuck under him, settled in the cradle of his thighs, sucked bruises into the young man's neck. It's the first time they've come with Chuck's hands gripping Casey's ass as they hump gracelessly together, too worked up to wait for lube, too keyed up to last.

Later, when they've spent themselves enough for patience, Casey relearns the shape of Chuck's collarbone, the curve of his nape, the way his breath stutters and his mouth falls open as Casey sucks him down, hot mouth swallowing him so obscenely that it's probably still banned in states across the South. They move in concert, Chuck displaying such a depth of knowledge of just where and how to touch to drive Casey out of his mind that he'd suspect Chuck of having flashed on Seduction School training, but the truth is Chuck learned it all with his ferocious determination to please, treating every hard-won secret of Casey's body like a prized jewel, something to be hoarded and treasured. In return, Casey does his very best to show Chuck just how much he's missed the man, just how sorry he is that he ever tried to duck out of Chuck's life, his heart.

At last they lie in a heap together, unsure where one starts and the other leaves off, sweat cooling on overheated skin, heartbeats slowing. Chuck nuzzles Casey's ear, then nips it sharply.

'Ow!'

'That was a shitty thing to do,' Chuck says.

'I kinda thought it was hot myself,' Casey snickers and for a minute Chuck joins in. Then Casey sighs, tightens his arm around the young man's waist. 'I shouldn't have done it. You deserve better than that.'

'Do you think I deserve better than you?' Chuck asks, raising his head enough to see the emotions that skitter through the depths of his lover's eyes.

'Maybe,' Casey says. 'Probably, yes. I still don't know what the hell you see in me.'

'Then it's lucky for you that I do, isn't it?' Chuck says, laying his head back down. 'I love you, stupid. I want us to grow old together, stopping the bad guys and saving the world. And at the end of the day, I want to come home to you. I want to climb into bed with you and have you remind me that there's something worth fighting for. I want to find new and exciting ways to annoy you and drive you crazy. I want a life, a future, with you.'

Casey sighs and closes his eyes. 'You just won't give up, will you?' He swallows hard and feeling like he's stepping off a cliff, he says, 'I surrender. I'm yours. My future is yours. Goddamn crazy nerds.' He huffs, presses a kiss to Chuck's temple. 'I love you too. Even though the Intersect's clearly compromised your judgement.'

'Don't care,' Chuck says sleepily. 'This is the only picket fence I want. Paint it rainbow. Set it on fire. It's my fence and I've given it to you.'

'Gay Pride march?' Casey groans, tugging the comforter over them.

'Mm. You bet.'

Casey can feel Chuck's grin against his shoulder and he thinks it'd be worth having to turn up to every single Gay Pride march dressed like something out of _Dune_ just to have the right to make Chuck smile every night.

In the morning, they both know they'll have to talk with Sarah and Casey's got apologies to make. He owes thanks, too, to Morgan, Devon and Ellie for making him see that even after everything he's done, he still has a future with Chuck. As Casey slides towards sleep, he breathes in the scent of his beloved and silently raises a toast to not-so-young love, forgiveness, and rainbow picket fences.


End file.
